Ask 411 Movies for 03.23.09: The Column That Picked Morehead State!

Posted by Leonard Hayhurst on 03.23.2009

Jesse Camp, Natash Richardson, Ron Silver, Demitri Martin, Michelle Rodriguez, Touching Evil, same name different actor and Susan Lucci seduces Robert Urich with hot evil

From YouTube this week we have Will Ferrell looking very Ric Flair like as a used car dealer on HBO's new "East Bound and Down."



From the Wal-Mart dump bin I snagged this week Robin Hood: Men in Tights, Born in East L.A., Munich and The Sandlot. A little eclectic there, but that's me.

Actor Ron Silver, 62, died of esophageal cancer last Monday. Silver won a Tony for "Speed the Plow" and earned an Emmy nomination for his recurring role on "The West Wing." His films include Find Me Guilty, Time Cop, Ali, Reversal of Fortune, Enemies: A Love Story, Blue Steel, Romancing the Stone, Silkwood and Semi-Tough



Actress Natasha Richardson, 45, died from complications of a skiing accident last Wednesday. The Tony Award winning wife of Liam Neeson and daughter of Vanessa Redgrave and Tony Richardson appeared in such films as Patty Hearst, Fat Man and Little Boy, The Handmaid's Tale, The Comfort of Strangers, Past Midnight, Nell, The Parent Trap, Maid in Manhattan, Asylum, Evening and Wild Child.


NETFLIX MOVIE OF THE WEEK: WES CRAVEN'S INIVITATION TO HELL



In this 1984 TV movie, The Winslow family (Joanna Cassidy, Robert Urich and children Soleil Moon Frye and Barret Oliver ) movie to California when dad Matt gets a job with a high tech firm to develop a new space suit. Everyone who is anyone in their new community is a member of a ritzy country club, presided over by Jessica Jones (Susan Lucci-who is literally hot evil). When people become members of the club, they don't come out the same and Matt has to fight to get his real family back. Things I liked:

*The pre-credit sequence where Susan Lucci gets ran over by a limo, does the Nosferatu stand up and melts the driver like he was in The Devil's Rain.
*Kevin McCarthy, star of the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers, trying to get Urich to join the group and be one of them.
*A cutting edge high tech company keeps all of their records on reel to reel.
*That annoying guy from "Murphy Brown" is shot with a laser beam. Not to be confused with the nerdy guy or the pompous guy from "Murphy Brown."
*Punky Brewster gets medieval on a rabbit doll and then Urich beats the crap out of her and lock her in a closet.
*The current level of evil of Susan Lucci's character directly correlates to how big her hair is.
*Urich suspects something is up when his wife tries to have their dog killed, but he knows something is up when she buys a new piano.
*Urich goes undercover at the club by carrying around a pitching wedge. Who carries around one golf club? He also becomes extra suspicious of the club when he discovers they don't have a basketball court.
*Urich's new high tech suit is for a manned space trip to Venus. Why the hell would we go to Venus?

Q: some might get this.. Hey Russel brand , Jesse Camp called he wants his look back
-Gutter

A: Not only do I get it, I'm sorry I didn't think of it first. However, you have cursed us with a Jesse Camp rundown.

Camp, 29, was born with the regal sounding name of Josiah Jesse Holden Camp III and attended prep school in Connecticut. He won a contest to be VJ on MTV and held the position for about a year. After that he tried to get a band going, but was last reported as a caller for Telefund, raising money for non-profit liberal and progressive organizations. Camp appeared on the final episode of "Total Request Live" with Dave Holmes, who was the runner-up to Camp in the first VJ contest.


You know you're annoying when Kathy Griffin finds you so.

Q: I'm pretty sure topher grace and ashton kutcher went head to head with butterfly effect and win a date with tad stephens. Don't remember if they were still on that 70's show at the time. I'm sure someone will follow up with a more accurate post.
-Robot Bear

A: The Butterfly Effect and Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! both debuted Jan. 23, 2004. Both were regulars on "That 70's Show" until 2005. I just forgot those movies, because they suck.

Q: I always thought that on Happy Days ,that Chuck had been killed in a car crash and that's how he got written out of the show.
-Gutter

A: Originally there was some mention that Chuck was away at college, but eventually it became common place for the Cunninghams to refer to their two children, Joanie and Richie, and for Joanie and Richie and to say they only had the one sibling. There was some lip service paid to his whereabouts at start, but then he was just dropped from existence. I doubt a show like "Happy Days" would have a character die in a car wreck.

Q: The most recent character disappearance I can think of is Donna's sister on That 70's Show.
-Lucky

A: Donna had two sisters, Tina and Valerie, both disappeared after one shot appearances and were rarely mentioned.

Q: You said Brian Doyle-Murray had to change his name because there already was a Brian Murray. Who is the other one and why can't there be two of them.
-Mick

A: Brian Murray, 71, is an actor and theater director originally from South Africa. He has been nominated for three Tonys and numerous Drama Desk Awards, winning two. Murray has primarily done stage, but has a few movies and TV guest appearances to his credit. He played Alec Baldwin's dad on an episode of "30 Rock, served as the voice of John Silver for Disney's Treasure Planet and was featured in City Hall, Bob Roberts, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Mel Gibson's Hamlet.



Most of the different guilds, like the acting guilds, allow only one person with the same name in order to avoid confusion and insure proper crediting. Michael Keaton's real name is Michael Douglas, but he changed it to Keaton. It's for Diane, but is sometimes miscredited as being for Buster. Michael J. Fox's real middle initial is A, but he took the J for Michael J. Pollard. William H. Macy changed his for Billy Macy, best known as Bea Arthur's husband on "Maude." He usually goes by Bill, but his SAG card says William.

Q: Actually I think a live action Calvin and Hobbes would be great. CGI would work there, because one of the characters is imaginary, so he could look out of place and not screw up the movie.

Of course finding a kid to accurately portray their relationship would be hard, because kid actors are always so annoying in Hollywood movies.

Maybe they could do a Calvin & Hobbes grown up! With Jim Carey in the lead and it kind of be like Drop Dead Fred, but more recognizable...

I think I just realized how things end up the way they do so often. Still, it works.
-Jake G

A: If the live action Jim Carrey idea comes about, I know who to come after. The other idea isn't so bad.

In general when I think of comic strips and CGI, I think of Garfield and that just didn't work. However, considering that Hobbes is imaginary as you do might work out. If we could get Pixar to do it, we might have something.

Q: I actually liked Brand's Comedy Central Special, as I found him self-deprecating. He outright admits he sucked as the host of MTV Video Music Awards last year.

I'm still trying to figure out why Demitri Martin has a show.

Anyway, has an actor/actress ever had two different movies released on the same weekend?
-JLAJRC

A: Demitri Martin got a show because his specials scored well in the ratings and he's a visual comic. I've caught a couple episodes and it just feels like a white nerd version of "Chapelle's Show" without the social commentary.

Carla Gugino was close with having Race to Witch Mountain last week and Watchmen the week before. Danny McBride last year had The Pineapple Express and Tropic Thunder open a week apart.

In doing some research I found that Christian Kane, currently on "Leverage" and best known for playing Lindsey McDonald on "Angel," had bit parts in Taxi and Friday Night Lights that both debuted on Oct. 8, 2004. I want to say there are more, but I couldn't find them.

Q: With the success of Burn Notice, why is it that USA has not yet released Touching Evil on DVD? The show lasted one whole season, and has pretty much dropped off of the face of TV. Fans of Jeffery Donovan will no doubt want to check out his other USA series if it is ever released. I seems like money in the bank to me. On to my three questions…

If you were given the power to release one show on DVD that has yet to be released, what would it be?

If you could persuade Hollywood to do a sequel to one movie, what would it be?

If you could take one movie that was adapted from a book or elsewhere that you think Hollywood just completely missed the mark on, what would it be?

Thanks for you time…
-Mario

A: "Touching Evil" was originally a British show that was adapted for the United States and aired on the USA Network in 2004. Jeffrey Donovan played a detective who was shot in the head and from that wound lost all sense of shame and impulse control. An episode of "Touching Evil" is included on the DVD "Brilliant But Cancelled: Crime Dramas" which can be found on Amazon. There are no plans at this time to release the 12 episode first and only season. One thing to note is that "Burn Notice" is produced by Fox Television and "Touching Evil" was produced by USA itself.



A TV show I would love on DVD is the original "Batman" TV show. The original movie from the TV show it out and has a great commentary track by Adam West and Burt Ward. The problem is that 20th century Television owns the show, but Warner Brothers through DC Comics own the characters.

I really liked the idea of a doing a Kill Bill sequel where Venita Green's daughter would go after the Bride, possibly with help from a blind Elle Driver. It has potential to be a different story in the same style with similar revenge themes.

I would love a remake of Something Wicked This Way Comes based on a novel by Ray Bradbury. The original Disney film from 1983 was hampered by a lack of technology. Some segments were cut because the mix of animation and early computer effects didn't look right. Bradbury reportedly didn't like the original movie and was interested in having Stephen Spielberg direct. Interestingly Bradbury wrote an original screenplay for the film after watching Singing in the Rain and was interested in having Gene Kelly star. They couldn't get back and Bradbury eventually turned his screenplay into a book.

We've had a few people, and not too kindly, say they're done with the Star Trek, Star Wars talk. So if this is you, stop reading now. Can't say I didn't warn you.

Q: Whats with all the Star Trek Nemesis hate? Thats one of my favorite ones, just behind First Contact and above IV Voyage Home.
-I'm Right!!!

A: I stated some general reasons last week in the column. To me it just felt like they were pulling so much stuff out of their ass. The Romulans having a Picard clone and another Data ‘brother' doesn't make any damn sense and they spend little to no time explaining it. I liked the main battle sequence, but overall the movie felt real slight and kind of low rent.

Q: I don't get the love for Star Trek VI OR for Nemesis... I thought those movies were so poor, but whatever. I can accept people have INDIVIDUAL tastes. I still like the "Row Row Row your boat" scene from V (though not the rest of the movie).

Can we all at least agree that Insurrection is the worst of all of them?! Seriously the whole movie plays out like nothing more than a 2 hour Next Gen ep... and a boring one at that! Then again, that's my problem with Trek in general-- it's so damned boring!
Mr.-X

A: Being a big fan of Star Trek II, I liked having Nicholas Meyer back at the helm and contributing to the screenplay of number six. It just wasn't a science fiction movie, it was a political thriller. It had a lot of social commentary at an important time in history just after the end of the cold war. As originally conceived, the relationship between the Klingons and the Federation was supposed to mirror U.S. and Soviet relations. The movie was also a good step up from part five in making for a more meaningful and fitting send off of the original crew. It felt like it tried to get back to its roots some.

I have just realized I have not seen Insurrection. I'm amazed. I guess I just assumed I had, but reading the plot synopsis, it appears I missed it. So I'll get right on that.

Q: What pissed me off most about Nemesis is that they make this huge deal about Data having a "brother" with no mention of Data's other brother, Lore! And since there's never going to be another movie following those characters, I prefer to believe that B-4 traded places with Data somehow (demanding to be sacrificed in his place), either that or Data pulled a Star Trek III and dumped his brain into B-4's circuits, so that he'd live on. Makes it a much more satisfying conclusion to me.

With regards to the quality of the Star Trek movies, I always go by even numbered = good movies, odd numbered = bad movies (*exception: Star Trek III = good, Star Trek X = weakest of the even numbered).

Questions: 1) I don't know if you're fan of The Original Series, but what TOS episodes would you say were good quality, especially for introducing someone to Star Trek? Everyone cites "The City at the Edge of Forever" and "The Trouble with Tribbles" . . . but then what? "The Empath"? "Arena"? What's a good quality episode of a cheesy '60s series? If you could suggest 5 (you can even include the 4 I've already mentioned), that would be a huge help.

2a) BROAD GENERALISATIONS: Christopher Walken and Robert De Niro seem to do nothing lately but play parodies of themselves. John Lithgow's never going to be taken seriously in a dramatic role again. In your opinion, are there any other formerly serious actors that are heading down this path? (Robin Williams seems to be going in the opposite direction, never to be considered funny again.)

2b) How can an actor play in a comedy and then go back to successfully doing serious roles? How the hell did Schwarzeneggar pull it off (Kindergarten Cop 1990 - Terminator 2 1991)?

3) Am I the only one who absolutely cannot stand Michelle Rodriguez?

Thank you,
-Vince

A: Five good "Star Trek: The Original Series" episodes

"The City on the Edge of Forever" Harlan Ellison wrote a script a little too ambitious for the series, but they did what they could with it. After Dr. McCoy is accidentally injected with a drug that drives him nuts, he beams down to a planet and jumps through a portal that transports him into earth's past. Kirk and Spock follow to retrieve McCoy and stop how he changed history. To do that, Kirk has to let a woman he's fallen for die, played by Joan Collins. The episode really works by introducing a real moral conundrum into the possibilities of science fiction. Kirk, for once, actually builds a relationship with a woman and just doesn't jump into bed with her. Collins and Shatner have good chemistry to help this. This episode also made time travel a staple of the series.

"Space Seed" Not only does the episode lead into the excellent Star Trek II, but is pretty decent in its own right. Ricardo Montalban was one of the top guest stars the series pulled and he gives a sharp performance here with the right mix of charisma and evil. I think Kirk sees a lot of himself in Khan as a leader and can respect some of his motivations and that's why he exiles him to a planet he can call his own and not imprison him.

"Amok Time" This episode gave the first real look into Vulcan culture. The usual logical Spock goes into ‘heat' and loses his mind. The Enterprise takes him home and his betrothed pulls a fast one by instituting an old challenge rule and picking Kirk as her champion. Spock seemingly kills Kirk, but McCoy pulled a faster one and injected Kirk with a compound that simulated his death. The episode also helps to really pull that Kirk, Spock and McCoy dynamic tighter.

"Let That be Your Last Battlefield" The social commentary might be a little heavy, but is a prime example of the types of statements creator Gene Roddenberry wanted to make. Frank Gorshin plays an alien who is white on one side and black on the other pursuing another alien who is colored the same way, just on opposite sides. When they return to their world, it's discovered that it has been destroyed by war. The two men, the last of their kind, continue their cat and mouse game despite the implications.

"Mirror, Mirror" This is one of the most famous episodes of the series. A transporter malfunction shifts part of the crew to an alternate reality where the federation is an evil empire. The good Kirk tries to persuade the bad, bearded Spock into leading a coup. It's clever and creative while also delivering social commentary on the base instincts of man.

In short, five of the worst episodes in my opinion would be "Spock's Brain," "The Paradise Syndrome," "And the Children Shall Lead," "This Way to Eden" and "The Alternative Factor."

For actors who can't be taken seriously again, the first name I thought of was Leslie Nielsen, even though he doesn't work too much anymore due to age and health. Nielsen was purely a dramatic actor until Airplane and then really went off the deep end with The Naked Gun series. Part of the gag in Airplane was having serious actors in wacky parts such Nielsen, Robert Stack and Lloyd Bridges.

Ben Kingsley is damaging his reputation by taking high profile roles in bad genre movies, like BloodRayne, Thunderbirds, The Love Guru and Sound of Thunder. Even decent movies where he's getting good notices like The Wackness sound just a bit odd for the guy that was Gandhi.

Clint Eastwood is someone who was going down that slope in the early eighties. He rightfully lampooned his tough guy and western image with Every Which Way But Loose, Any Which Way You Can, Bronco Billy, Honky Tonk Man and Pink Cadillac, but he sprinkled serious movies within that and then he reinvented himself again as more of a director with Unforgiven in 1992 after a bit of a dry spell.

Arnold Schwarzenegger was in a similar boat where he needed to lighten up and change his image, but he was smart enough to sprinkle action films in between. It went Twins, Total Recall, Kindergarten Cop, Terminator 2, Last Action Hero, True Lies, Junior, Eraser, Jingle All the Way, Batman and Robin and End of Days.

Basically, it's a smart actor who realizes when his image needs a makeover or he needs to make a change of pace film. Some aren't so smart to go back to their bread and butter when they need to.

Michelle Rodriguez, 30, was born in Texas to a Dominican mother and Puerto Rican father. Rodriguez lived in both of these countries before winding up in New Jersey as a teen. She answered an open casting call for a low budget film and landed Girlfight, which earned her great critical reviews and set her tough chick image. She has pretty much starred in action films since then such as SWAT, The Fast and the Furious, Blue Crush and Resident Evil. She has aspirations of writing and directing.

Rodrguez cemented her bad girl image with several real life troubles. In March 2002, she was arrested for assaulting a roommate. Charges were later dropped. In Nov. 2003, she pleaded no contest to driving under the influence, driving under a license suspension and a hit and run. During 2005 while filming "Lost" in Hawaii she was arrested again for DUI and several counts of speeding, including doing 90 in a 35.

Kjeldbjerg in the comments was with you last week on your Michelle Rodriguez hate. I really can't say I have much of an opinion on her, because I'm not a huge fan of any movie she's ever done or her personally. She seems like a girl that caught a lucky break and is just riding that.



Don't die.

"A toll is a toll, and a roll is a roll. And if we don't get no tolls, then we don't eat no rolls. I made that up."